7 stars Liverpool failed to sign under Jurgen Klopp
Liverpool's struggles before Jurgen Klopp took over meant that they missed out on a few transfer targets like Willian, Alexis Sanchez, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Gylfi Sigurðsson and Yevhen Konoplyanka.
The Reds’ had trouble landing their transfer targets during their initial days under Jurgen Klopp as well. Although Klopp has signed some fantastic players like Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Virgil van Dijk among others for Liverpool, he missed out on many superstars due to varied reasons.
In Van Dijk’s case, Klopp was adamant that he wanted only the Dutchman and played the waiting game to land his prime target. However, there are instances when he moved on to a new target when the club couldn’t land a player.
Some of the players Liverpool failed to sign under Klopp haven’t been a big miss but there are others who could have made a massive difference even to the current squad.
#7 Mahmoud Dahoud
In 2016, the first summer after Jurgen Klopp took over as Liverpool manager, he identified that the Reds need reinforcement in the midfield. As he was accustomed to the Bundesliga, Klopp attempted to sign Borussia Monchengladbach's promising youngster Mahmoud Dahoud.
A transfer for the player proved to be very difficult for two reasons. Firstly, the player would cost Liverpool around £25m and this was a hefty amount for a player with limited experience. Secondly, Gladbach sold Granit Xhaka to Arsenal in the same summer and they did not want to lose two central midfielders in the same window.
Since a move for Dahoud was not possible in 2016, Liverpool signed the more experienced Gini Wijnaldum from Newcastle United for £23 million with a further £2 million in conditional add-ons. The Dutchman has proved to be an excellent addition to the Liverpool midfield and is an automatic starter for Liverpool when fit.
Dahoud moved to Borussia Dortmund in 2017 even though Liverpool kept tabs on him. However, he hasn’t been able to cement his place in the side even into his second season with the club.
At the time of his transfer to Dortmund, he revealed that he had offers from many clubs but he chose Dortmund because he wanted to stay in Germany.